


Frozen Food, Hot Coffee, and Relationship Updates

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Category: XOXO Droplets (Video Game)
Genre: Coffee, Coffee Shops, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Future, Future Fic, Gen, Grocery Shopping, Grocery Store, Humor, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Reunions, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29396487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: Everett has mellowed out. JB definitely has not.
Relationships: Everett Gray & Main Character | JB, Everett Gray/Nate Lawson, Jeremy King/Main Character | JB
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Frozen Food, Hot Coffee, and Relationship Updates

It's only been four years since he's heard her voice. They kept up over text and email, but they haven't ever talked over the phone during that time.

And yet, when she shrieks his name at the top of her lungs, it's far too easy to know that it's her.

"EVERETT?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

He drops the pack of vegetables he was holding and spins around, eyes wide with shock. "Wha-?! Keep your voice down, you batshit crazy woman!" he says, even as she rushes up to meet him, pushing a cart of her own food with her.

"It's nice to see you, too!" JB says, beaming. She's wearing a bright red flower barrette in her slightly-longer-than-he-remembers hair, and he thinks he recalls hearing her boyfriend of the time compliment a similar accessory at one point, back in 'the day'.

And if she's still the same as she was then, then he knows she genuinely thinks that that was his way of greeting her. He shakes his head in vague amusement.

"Seriously," she says, pouting, "what are you doing here? You didn't say you're in this area. Did you move here recently?"

"Nah. I'm just here for a few days," Everett says. He leans down to pick up the bag he dropped, and plops them into the basket he's hanging off of his arm. "And I didn't mention it because I knew you'd wanna hang out. Not that I'd mind, but my boyfriend likes to keep his schedules. And I promised him that aside from my family, it'd just be us for these few days."

There's a beat. Everett looks up, blinking. He has this vague, concerned feeling that reminds him that he never mentioned his bisexuality to her back then, so she could very well have a problem with him having a boyfriend.

But no, she looks more shocked than disgusted. "You never told me you had a boyfriend, either!" she screams again. She slams her palms down on the handle of her shopping cart. "Unacceptable, I say! You must tell me every detail this very moment!"

"Every detail?" he repeats duly.

"How'd you meet him, for example?"

It takes all of his self-control to look her in the eye without bursting into laughter as he says, "We met when we were five."

There's approximately three seconds of silence before JB realizes what he's insinuating. "You're dating Nate?!"

"You're gonna get us kicked out if you keep screaming like that."

"But when did that happen?!"

"A little after your birthday in our senior year."

"What?!"

Everett snorts. He should have known better than to respond to her and her shrieking. "I'll tell you everything once I finish shopping, okay? Nate and I are going to my parents' for dinner tonight and I promised to bring stuff for it. I know I'll forget stuff if we just stand here talking."

JB nods furiously, her eyes wide and full of familiar determination. "Do you think maybe we could get coffee across the street after, then?"

"Maybe. We'd have to make it fast so the frozen stuff here won't melt."

"Bleh. When'd you get so responsible?"

"Why did you never get responsible?"

"Jeremy's the responsible one," JB responds airily. "I'm the wild one."

Everett chuckles as he moves on with his shopping. To no one's surprise, JB follows him, seeming intent on getting her own stuff along with him. "I'm kinda surprised you're still with him," he admits. "Is he still like he used to be?"

"Mm, he's better with telling me what he really wants nowadays," JB says thoughtfully. "But he's still very quiet and mopey in general."

"That's better than I was expecting." Everett chuckles. "And you still think that's adorable, or whatever, right?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

* * *

At the coffee shop, each of them holding their own hot drink in their hands, JB stares him down. "Alright. Now spill. For starters, why'd you never tell me - let alone anyone - about you and Nate?"

Everett shrugs and sips from his over-sweetened drink. "I wasn't too open about being bi back then," he says. "I don't think I'd have minded saying something once Nate and I started dating, but he said he didn't care to make a big announcement either. Not like you and Jeremy did, anyway. Basically what he said was, 'If they can't tell on their own that we're closer than we used to be, then that's on them and their inability to see the obvious'."

JB listens intently, nodding along. Once she sees that he's done with this part of the explanation, she continues her questioning, "Well why didn't you ever say anything in texts and emails or anything? Like, all that time and you never once mentioned that you and Nate had been dating all this time!"

"I forgot, I guess? And you talk to him, too, why am I the only one getting a fucking third-degree? He clearly didn't say anything, either..."

JB's eyes widen, obviously not having considered that. "Wha-?! You're totally right! That scum! You have a scum boyfriend! You should dump him and his scum ways!"

Everett snorts and shakes his head. "Thanks, but I'm gonna be doing the exact opposite."

Something in his tone must get her attention, because she raises an eyebrow. He sighs, and lowers his gaze to his lap with a soft smile.

"I'm... Gonna ask him to marry me tonight."

JB's jaw drops. She slams her cup down and she shoots up, hands planting firmly on the table. "No way! For real?! What're you gonna do? Do you have the ring? I wanna see the ring!"

"You can't," Everett says flatly. "Mom's letting me use the one Dad proposed to her with. That's why I'm bringing Nate there for dinner - so she can give it to me. Then when we're back at the hotel I'm gonna propose."

"You're not gonna do it in front of your family?"

"I've asked Nate about his ideal proposal," Everett explains. "I dunno if he caught on that I was planning on it, but he said that if anyone else was around - even family or close friends - it would make him feel weird and pressured into saying yes, even if he wasn't ready. So I'm gonna do it when we're back in our hotel room."

"Aw, how considerate you are!" JB gushes. "You'll tell me how it goes, right?"

"Yes, yes."

"And I'm your maid of honor!"

"You might have to be Nate's," Everett says thoughtfully. "I think my sister will want me to at least offer to her, and Mom will probably make her accept, so..."

JB shrugs. "Whatever, I just wanna be there. Since you kept your entire relationship secret this whole time."

"I told you, we weren't trying to hide it. We just-"

"Yeah, yeah. So, wanna tell me how you first got together, then?"

"Fuck no."

JB blinks in slight shock. "Whoa, I thought you'd mellowed out, but I just got a little past-Everett there," she says. "Why don't you wanna tell me?"

"It's embarrassing to look back on. We definitely were dumb with how we dealt with our feelings..." He raises one eyebrow. "Promise not to make fun or anything?"

"I would never," JB says, in a pretty good mimicry of Shiloh. He sighs and shakes his head.

Against his better judgement, he decides to tell her anyway. "You remember the game we played on your birthday that year, right?"

"You mean that kiddie-version of 'Fuck, Marry, Kill' that I practically had to force Lynn into letting us play?" JB says, a smirk on her lips. "Yes, I remember."

"Right, well, you might have been good with the choices Nate made, but something bugged me. I knew it was just because I'd picked him or whatever, but I still couldn't get over why he'd picked to marry me. So when we were back in our room later, I asked about it."

"Was he annoyed that you were bringing it up after he'd escaped?"

"Of course," Everett says, chuckling. "But he said, and I quote - 'We already spend plenty of time together, if we were married I don't think it'd change much'." He shrugs, turning his cup around and around. "I dunno what I was even thinking, but I just blurted out, 'Well, we'd have to be fucking _dating_ first!' And he said, 'Yeah? So?'" He snorts at the memory, a fond smile on his lips. "Then I asked if he _wanted_ to date me, because he was acting like he did, or at least didn't _mind_. And he asked if I was asking him out, and I said, 'If I was, would you say yes?' And we went back and forth like that for a while... I think he only gave in and said that he wanted to date me because I pointed out that we would go to sleep late if we kept it up."

JB laughs, shaking her head. "That's not embarrassing! I don't know what I expected, though. You guys were never the best with outright admitting how you felt. Too prideful."

"That on its own is pretty embarrassing, I think," Everett says, shaking his head. "I'd wanted to date him for longer than that, but that dumb pride kept me from doing something until that day. And even then I made him do the work of confessing first."

JB's smile softens. "Is that why you're proposing?" she asks softly. "To make up for that?"

Everett huffs, eyes lowering to the table. "Maybe so, yeah." A smile plays at the edge of his lips. "I definitely wanna marry him, either way. I love him."

"Past-Everett would be so traumatized if he saw this," JB says - maybe using humor as a way to calm his nerves, or maybe she still has no tact. He chooses to believe the former. "And as much as I would love to continue this, you did mention some frozens-"

"Ah!" Everett shoots up. "Damn, you're right!" He grabs his coffee and shoots JB a half-smile. "Text later, yeah? I promise you'll be the second to know about how it goes."

"The first is your mom?"

"Obviously."

JB snorts and waves as he rushes out of the coffee shop, amusement glinting in her eyes.

"...I'm totally gonna force Nate to let me be his maid of honor."


End file.
